VOTE! Early Voting Runs Through November 1

Vote now! Election day is Tuesday, November 5, but anyone can vote early from now through November 1. To find your polling location, visit the Texas Secretary of State's My Voter Portal website. Fill out the information in the Am I Registered? section and and them click on the November 5th election. You should see you polling location for election day and locations available for early voting. You can also find locations by Googling 'early voting locations in (your other) county'.

The Sierra Club urges you to vote for candidates that care about the environment, environmental justice, climate change, and a clean energy future. To find a list of Sierra Club endorsed candidates for elected positions in Texas, visit Turn Texas Green. For a list of Sierra Club endorsed candidates for Federal office, please click here.

To help your favorite candidate, please vote early. Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. When you vote early, candidates no longer have to spend money on you and can concentrate on supporters who have not yet voted.

Nature Photography Class and Walk with Photographers Dale Edelbaum and Wendel Withrow

You asked for it, and we are are excited to offer a fantastic class in Nature Photography with two of the Dallas Sierra Club's best known photo wizards. Whether you take pictures with your phone in the neighborhood or venture into the backcountry with a tripod and 300mm zoom, this class is for you!

There will be a classroom session on Thursday, October 24 followed by an optional hike at White Rock Lake to practice you new photography skills. The hike will be on Saturday, October 26. 

Don't miss out. Class size is limited. Click here for full information about the class and how to sign up.

Day Hike at Piedmont Ridge - Saturday, November 9, 2024

Add the morning and early afternoon of November 9 to your calendar for hike #3 in Dallas Sierra Club’s popular series of outings to explore nature with Amy Martin, Master Naturalist and author of Wild DFW. Piedmont Ridge is where the Austin Chalk escarpment rises above Oak Creek, south of Scyene Road and west of Jim Miller Road in Dallas. Unlike our wetlands walks with Amy, Piedmont Ridge has switchbacks leading to a Dallas skyline view. Click here for more information about the hike and how to sign up.

White Rock Lake Cleanup - Saturday, November 9

Walk and talk while helping to pick up trash and recyclables at the Sierra Club's adopted section of White Rock Lake Park.  Meet Saturday, November 9, at 8:30 a.m. at the Dallas Sierra Club's adopted section of the lake.  Our area includes one of the wonderful prairie restoration areas, so there are always birds and wildflowers to enjoy.  The lake and your karma will thank you.  Click HERE for details and directions.

November General Meeting - Dallas Community Air Management Program

Please join The Dallas Sierra Club as we welcome Freddie Ortiz, City of Dallas’ Environmental Coordinator, as he discusses The Dallas Community Air Management Program (D-CAMP). Learn how this unique program puts sensors throughout Dallas to measure levels of air pollutants and collects that data for analysis which will subsequently allow for improved policies, urban planning, and infrastructure. Dallas has recently been ranked as the 18th most polluted city for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report. Mr Ortiz will educate and enumerate how these monitors are strategically placed in different communities around Dallas with a focus on at-risk communities with environmental justice concerns.

7:00 pm, Tuesday, November 12 via Zoom

From 6:45 to 7:00 p.m. you can log in to the meeting, chat, and ask questions. The meeting will begin at 7:00 with announcements, followed by our speaker's presentation.

To register for the meeting with Zoom, click on this link.

Everybody is welcome. You don't have to be a Sierra Club member.

For more information, contact Victoria Howard at Victoria@DallasSierraClub.org.

Dallas Sierra Club's Annual Big Bend National Park Outing

Save the dates! We're going on our annual trip to Big Bend National Park on February 19-23, 2025. 

Everyone will spend at least a first night at a group site at Rio Grande Village in the southeast part of the park. We’re working out details of three hiking options, tentatively including: 1) Backpacking and day hiking in the Chisos Mountains, 2) Moderately strenuous day hikes in the east, central, and west parts of the park with returns to Rio Grande Village each evening, and 3) a longer backpacking trip of three or four days. 

Plan to drive or carpool to the park on Wednesday, February19, and return home Sunday, February 23. Outing details are available here. Sign up and registration forms will appear here in November. For inquiries, email Jim Robarge, robargeDSC@gmail.com. 

The Big Bend of Texas has been shaped by eruptions, folds, faults, wind, water, and human management into a fabric of desert, forested mountains, canyons, pinnacles, and pour-offs. The region and the national park take their names from the giant curve the Rio Grande makes as it flows south, east, and north around the land.

Climate and vegetation in the park vary dramatically with elevations from 7,825 feet at Emory Peak to 1,680 feet on the Rio Grande. Remnant ponderosa pines, Douglas firs, aspens, maples, and oaks live at elevations above 6,000 feet. As elevations decrease, forests yield to junipers, then to desert plant communities of agave, yucca, sotol, ocotillo, mesquite, creosote and cactus. The park’s mammal community includes mountain lions, foxes, bobcats, bears, javelinas, mule deer, and white tail deer. For more information about the park, visit http://www.nps.gov/bibe.
 

The Dallas Sierra Club Needs Volunteers!

Without active volunteers, the Dallas Sierra Club will cease to exist. Because of this, your help is imperative to our survival. While the Sierra Club does have paid employees at the State and National level, the bulk of the work in each state is done by local groups which are entirely volunteer-led. The Dallas group has had a huge advocacy presence in North Texas since the 1970’s, and we’ve been working diligently to better the environment by engaging residents to participate and utilize the strengths they already possess to create positive environmental change. It may be surprising, but much of the work our volunteers  do can be done from home with only occasional in-person meetings or events needed. For those volunteers with young families, full-time jobs, or health issues, this can be an ideal opportunity to help without often leaving the comfort of home. Please consider helping us continue the Dallas Sierra Club’s  tried and true tradition of 50+ years as an entirely volunteer-led group. Your help can make all the difference. To volunteer, please contact Victoria Howard, Chair of the Dallas Sierra Club at victoria@dallassierraclub.org.

Dallas Sierra Club Outreach Speakers Program - Speakers for Your Group

The Dallas Sierra Club provides outdoor/environmental education in the form of entertaining and informative presentations by Dallas Sierra Club members with expertise in the topics offered. These presentations range in length from 30 minutes to one hour and cover a variety of topics in the general categories of outdoor adventure, environmental education, and general ecology. These talks are appropriate for a wide range of audiences including youth groups, school classes, civic and social groups, nature and gardening clubs, church groups, etc. Any group interested in an available topic is welcome to contact us. To see available topics and to schedule your speaker, click here.

Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter and Other Email Lists

Click here to subscribe online to our monthly email newsletter and to one or more of our more specific email lists (General, Conservation, Outings,  or our State and National email newsletters).